Through the Looking Glass
by Gotham's Princess
Summary: Oxley had always been there, from the moment Abner Ravenwood discovered his daughter’s relationship with his favorite student to the wedding that came twenty years too late, and the years of broken hearts in between. These are his thoughts. COMPLETE!
1. Cairo, 1926

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any rights to Indiana Jones. This is just an idea that popped into my head and it will not leave me alone.

**Title:** Through the Looking Glass  
**Rating:** PG-13/T  
**Summary**: Oxley had always been there, from the moment Abner Ravenwood discovered his daughter's relationship with his favorite student to the wedding that came twenty years too late, and the years of broken hearts in between. These are his thoughts.  
**Author's Note**: Oxley continually called Indy, Henry during KOTCS, so I decided to take that along for the story. He struck me as someone proper, and despite Indy not wanting to be called his given name, he does it anyway.  
**Chapter One:** Cairo, 1926

Through the Looking Glass

_Cairo, 1926_

He should have known, should have seen this coming. This was Henry — or Indiana as he liked to be called — and Oxley knew his friend all too well. But couldn't Henry have spared her? She was Abner's little girl, so innocent and pure. She didn't deserve this sort of treatment. Henry should have known better. Oxley should have known his friend better. Maybe then, if he had figured the secret out, her could have stopped him, saved her, and saved everyone from this sort of grief. _Hindsight is twenty-twenty_, Oxley thought bitterly.

All of those stolen glances at one another. The way she would laugh at all of Henry's jokes, or whisper that wretched nickname — _Indiana_. Oxley marveled at how he was able to ignore his friend's odd disappearances in the night, or the way Henry would stop with his excavating and watch through hooded eyes whenever she would pass. For Christ's sake, Oxley had even witnessed Marion take the hat — Henry's beloved hat the never left his head — from the top of his head and place it on her own while he just sat there grinning like a fool. It was there in front of his eyes and he was too blind to see it!

But Oxley's ignorance didn't matter, not anymore. Abner had caught on to the hidden affair between he only daughter and his — even though Oxley hated to admit it — favorite student. Ravenwood had come upon the two lovers in a rather compromising position. There was nothing left to be said. The elder archaeologist had been furious. He may have killed Henry on spot if Marion hadn't been there. Ravenwood had yelled, screamed, and threatened Henry on his life if he didn't leave camp immediately. And, much to Oxley's surprise, Henry took was Abner had said, and returned to his tent to pack. He left within the hour.

No one in the camp seemed to sleep that night. Oxley himself had stayed awake, staring at the ceiling of the tent. Marion's screams, begging her father to reconsider and for Henry to take her with him rang in his mind, refusing to leave. Never in his life had Oxley heard someone sound that hurt and broken. He didn't know if she would recover. However, days later, she did. She seemed to actually smile and there was an odd spring in her step. It was unnerving. No person should be able to bounce from their lowest lows back to their normal temperament.

Oxley began to watch her closer, worried about her abnormal reaction. He tried to do so discreetly; Abner seemed to be on a warpath, not wanting anyone to do to his daughter what Henry had. Never mind that Oxley had only seen young Marion as Abner's little girl, there was no doubt in Oxley's mind that Abner would see his interest in Marion quite differently. Even with the threat of angering his teacher, Oxley learned a few things about Marion. She would leave in the mornings, and sit on a rock watching the horizon, as if expecting something, or someone to be coming. After awhile, she would walk away, slightly sullen, but the determination in her eyes was still there. She would still hold her arms in front of her chest, close to her body, a sign that she wasn't fully healed, no matter what her odd behavior of smiles said to the contrary. One day, however, she caught him watching, and demanded to know what he was doing there. Oxley had been so flustered — he had never been good with women and girls in general — he had stuttered out his answer. He, himself, was surprised by her reply.

"I'm surprised Indy didn't tell you. You're his friend." She had paused, as if afraid to go on, but unwilling to hold onto whatever secret that she had been holding the past couple of days. Oxley, himself, was befuddled about what she was talking about. All Henry had mentioned to him was going back to the States. "You won't tell Abner, will you?"

"No. I suppose I won't"

Marion paused, as if not believing him for a moment, but whatever happiness she had bubbled through, and she jubilantly announced, "Indy's coming back for me. I don't know when, but he said he'd be back sometime. A couple of nights after he left, he snuck into my tent and we—" she made another pause, and blushed crimson as if afraid she was going to reveal too much, "well, he said he'd be back. Don't look at me as if you don't believe me, Ox, I know he will. He said…he said—even before Abner found out— hell, even before the first time we— " another pause, another blush, "Indy said that he loved me. _Loved me_. He'll be back. I just know he will."

Oxley wanted to believe Marion. He truly did. But he knew Henry far better than she believed she did. He knew what Henry would say to get a girl into his bed. How he would love them, then leave them with a broken heart. Why couldn't Henry have gone after someone else? Someone a little less innocent, someone not Abner's little girl. Why did he have to hurt her so? Oxley had so many questions racing through his mind. Though, there was one thing he knew for sure: Henry Jones, Jr. would not be returning to the Ravenwood camp.

A few weeks later, Oxley found Marion sobbing alone in her waiting place, and he knew she realized that he wouldn't be coming back either.

_To Be Continued…_

**Next Chapter:** New York, 1937

Reviews are accepted and appreciated.


	2. New York, 1937

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any rights to Indiana Jones. This is just an idea that popped into my head and it will not leave me alone.

**Title:** Through the Looking Glass  
**Rating:** PG-13/T  
**Summary**: Oxley had always been there, from the moment Abner Ravenwood discovered his daughter's relationship with his favorite student to the wedding that came twenty years too late, and the years of broken hearts in between. These are his thoughts.  
**Author's Note**: Thanks for the reviews! You all rock. I'm glad you enjoyed this being told from Oxley's POV. But keep this in mind. He's an unreliable narrator. He doesn't understand everything that has happened between out starcrossed lovers.  
**Chapter Two:** New York, 1937

Through the Looking Glass

_New York, 1937_

In the years that had passed, Oxley had begun to grow closer to Marion Ravenwood. He could never see her as anything more than Abner's little girl, but he still cared for her. It wasn't long until he had started seeing her as a sister, and he started to look after her as an older brother would. He would write to her about his adventures, send her money whether she needed it or not, and he even showed the proper amount of disapproval as an older brother should when she announced that she was opening a bar in Nepal. And more importantly, he never brought up the name he knew she never wanted to hear _— Indiana Jones_.

Henry had done surprisingly well in the past ten years, considering he travels and various run-ins with trouble. Oxley was surprised about how much Henry had to write, and the stories that he would be regaled with whenever he and Henry crossed paths. It was amazing what the man would do, and still have enough gall to go back to Marshall to teach a class. Still though, what struck Oxley the most was that whenever they met, Henry would inevitably ask about one person: Marion Ravenwood.

He cared for her. Henry Jones, Jr. truly cared for Marion Ravenwood in his own special way, and that shocked Oxley. Of course, he still had his conquests, such as that one singer, but Marion was the one he asked about — especially when he got particularly drunk. Yes, she was fine, in her own way, but Oxley knew never to bring up Cairo around her — or him. Henry always got a strange look in his eyes whenever Marion was mentioned, as if he was regretting his past mistake.

"Ya…know wha', Ox, buddy? I was goin' tah come back fer her…Mar'yun" Henry told him once, completely sloshed. It was a drunk man's confession, he was giving, and Oxley was going to listen. ". I was…Buh…buh…tah cross…Coronado's cross…I found ou' where it whas, an' an'…I had tah get it Ox…Tha' cross. I whas so close… But I lost it…an' an'…I lost her…I didn't come ah…back fer Mar'yun. Shoulda gone tah her…but tha' cross… Still doan have tah cross…Doan have Mar'yun either."

Oxley had been surprised by Henry's revelation. He had never believed Henry had actually been serious about coming back to for Marion. But that cross had seduced him away from her. Oxley knew how obsessed Henry was with the Coronado's Cross. It resembled Abner's obsession with the Ark of the Covenant and Henry Jones, Sr.'s obsession with the Holy Grail. Hell, Oxley, himself, had always kept an eye on the Crystal Skulls. (All the better he had never found a wife) But the pain! It wasn't worth it. He never wanted to hurt someone like Henry had hurt Marion. He never wanted to get too distracted by fortune and glory to cause himself to lose something like that.

Truth was, it was probably better that Henry had never come back. They would have found happiness for a short time, but it would have all fallen to oblivion eventually. Oxley had no doubts that Marion would make a good wife, even if she seemed a bit too opinionated at times. It was Henry who Oxley had placed his doubt in. Henry was a fickle man. Oxley had seen the myriad of women on his arm at various times and how Henry always seemed to be on some adventure somewhere. Oxley knew that it would only have been a matter of time before some adventure, or some other woman, would seduce Henry away from Marion. It was better for him; it was best for her.

No matter how many times Oxley had been told by Marion that she had long since forgotten Henry, no matter how many times she tried to convince herself that she hated the man she called Indiana, Oxley knew that it was not so. Marion was a rotten liar. Though she spoke of indifference and at times hate, her eyes told a different story. The story of girl left broken at seventeen, who couldn't seem to eat for a week after her first love had left. She was still the girl who hoped that the man she had loved would walk right through her door, no matter how much she tried to convince herself.

Fate, however, seemed to have different plans that Oxley didn't quite agree with. Henry had shown up on his doorstep one day, asking where he could find Marion to find the headpiece to the Staff of Ra. Henry Jones, Jr. was going to find the Ark of the Covenant. Oxley had been reluctant. He didn't want to drag up the past. He didn't want to see Marion hurt again. Even if there wasn't a fling, he knew that seeing Henry would be enough to open up the wounds Henry had left years ago. But then Henry had to bring up the Germans, and Oxley knew of the threat that would rise if the Nazis discovered the Ark of the Covenant. With a guilty heart, Oxley told Henry where exactly he could find Abner Ravenwood's little girl, and prayed to every god that would listen to protect her.

Henry returned weeks later without the Ark, but with a different prize: Marion. Over the course of their excursion, something had changed. The fire they once held for each other had rekindled, and they weren't going to let that go. Oxley didn't like this development. Henry and Marion weren't meant to be. They were oil and water. They didn't mix. In the end, there would only be pain. Oxley knew this, so why didn't they? He never made his misgivings known. Both parties were too stubborn to listen to him on this issue. _That may be the one thing they do have in common_, Oxley thought humorously. Still, he was waiting for the pieces of this picture to break. It was only inevitable.

However days passed. And those days turned to weeks. Weeks soon became months And for once, Oxley began to grow hopeful. Maybe Henry had in fact grown up. Maybe he realized that he had a good woman here. True, Henry and Marion had their arguments. Ones that would end with one of them storming out of their home, and going to the bar. Henry would be the one that would come back rather drunk, Marion could always drink him under the table. Words would be traded, but they would still fall back together. It was…a marvel to see it happen. And then something happened that Oxley never believed would happen: Henry proposed.

Henry Jones, Jr. was actually committing! Oxley briefly considered that the apocalypse was coming, but the Mayans believed that wouldn't occur until the new millennium, decades, and impossibly number away. But Henry had actually proposed. They all had celebrated, Oxley, Henry, Marion, and one of Henry's friends, Marcus Brody, at the Raven's Nest, the bar Marion had set up. _Why must continue with the bar?_ They had gotten drunk, but it was a good kind of drunk— the happy kind of drunk in celebration. Not the drunkenness found desperation, like the time Henry had admitted the real reason for his not coming back. Things finally seemed to be coming together, and Oxley's doubt had finally begun to ebb away. Then came the beginning of the end.

Henry got another lead on the accursed Cross of Coronado. He wanted to leave, to find it and he went as far to tell Marion to stay behind, plan the wedding. She didn't want to listen. She wanted to follow him. She wouldn't become one of _those _wives. They had their rows over the issue, and a day or two, and many bottles of scotch later, Henry had left. Oxley still wasn't quite sure what he had said to Marion to get her to stay, but she did. Marion never did tell him why. She was angry, though. No, angry may have been an understatement. Furious fit the bill better. She never had liked to be left when adventure reared its head her way. But, it seemed to Oxley, that in her own way, she understood Henry's need to go after the cross. Marion saw its meaning in Henry's heart. Oxley knew she hoped that Henry would finally find it.

He didn't, and Henry's anger and desperation at that fact seemed to seep through when he had returned. But soon he was distracted again by the looming wedding, but something seemed different about him. He didn't approach it with the same attitude that he had before the failed attempt to find the cross. At times, yes, Henry was as giddy as a schoolboy, but at other times, whenever the topic of the wedding was broached, he would get a peculiar look on his face, as if he was going back to some far away place that only Henry knew about. Frankly, this bizarre behavior had Oxley worried. Sadly, Oxley's worry was placed right. Henry Jones, Jr. abandoned Marion Ravenwood just one week before they were to wed.

Marion had arrived at Oxley's doorstep, pale, eyes red, as if she had been crying. Shock had been clearly written on her face. The moment she saw him, she had collapsed into his arms, and let out sob. In her hands, was a wrinkled letter, as if she had held it in her hands, reading it over and over again, as if she couldn't believe its words. Oxley couldn't quite believe them, himself. Not that Henry had left, the thought had always been in the back of his mind, but of how little he seemed to care. All that was written was a scrawled, '_Marion, this isn't working. I'm sorry. Indiana_.' Nothing more. Nothing less.

Rage had bubbled inside of Oxley. How could Henry have treated Marion so callously? She was his fiancée! This was far worse than first time he had left. It was as if Henry ignored their past altogether. He treated her as if she was some random woman after some one night stand, not the woman who he was betrothed to! It was intolerable! Later, when Marion had fallen asleep, exhausted from heartache, Oxley had gone out in search of Henry. He couldn't let his 'friend' — was he really one anymore? — get away with hurting her again. _Oh, why couldn't I have said something_, Oxley though, angry at himself, full of regret. He had known this was going to happen, but he had been too much of an idealistic fool to act upon those fears.

He found Henry in a bar, nursing a bottle of whiskey. Oxley had come upon Henry, and when their eyes locked, Henry's was full of something akin to sorrow. But Oxley was beyond caring, and made this rightfully known when his fist connected with Henry's jaw. Henry had jerked back, and fallen from the barstool. Eventually he stood, but his movements were that of a drunk man, and thus very clumsy. Oxley readied himself for a fight; Henry had never been one to back down. Even as a drunk, Henry was a good fighter — they had been in enough brawls at old speakeasies to prove this. However, Henry stood there, his hand holding his jaw, studying Oxley carefully.

"It…ah...I tol' 'er I whas sorry, Ox…" he seemed to struggle on what to say, and he swayed slightly from his drunkeness. Oxley didn't care. "It…ah…it…wouln' tah worked. Yah know thah…"

"Sometimes, sorry doesn't work." Ox turned his back to his former friend and collegemate. "Damn you, Jones. Damn you to hell."

_To Be Continued_

**Next Chapter:** New York, 1957


	3. Peru, 1956

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any rights to Indiana Jones. This is just an idea that popped into my head and it will not leave me alone.

**Title:** Through the Looking Glass  
**Rating:** PG-13/T  
**Summary**: Oxley had always been there, from the moment Abner Ravenwood discovered his daughter's relationship with his favorite student to the wedding that came twenty years too late, and the years of broken hearts in between. These are his thoughts.  
**Author's Note**: Okay, sorry for the long delay between the second and final chapter. I take full blame. I was gone for five weeks on a scholarship program, and when I returned, I could not find the will to return to write this fic. However, after rewatching the Indy series, my muse returned to me. Hopefully, you readers have returned, as well.  
**Chapter Three:** Peru, 1956

Through the Looking Glass

_Peru, 1956_

After all that had passed, Oxley knew he should be celebrating the return of and his sanity and his newfound knowledge of the famed and alien Crystal Skulls; but his escapade as a mad man— a seeming blessing and a curse of the Skulls—had taught him a few a things. An odd sense of fulfillment had long since settled over Oxley's old body when he had discovered the truth of the Skulls, and now he was left to modest introspection.

Oxley should have know, should have figured it out. However, he was too self-aware not to admit he was more often than not oblivious to the obvious and oftentimes was far too trusting — even if it was his 'family' he was trusting. And, the fact that he had been blind as a bat to for the past—_nineteen years was it?_ — was far too obvious and he trusted Marion far too much for him to actually realize the writing on the wall.

He supposed he should have deduced the truth of young Henry's true parentage when he discovered that his name was Henry Walton, but Colin's grandfather had the name Henry and Marion once admitted that she was quite fond of the name Walton, so in Oxley's mind, it wasn't too far of a stretch to assume that Marion had picked the name not thinking of Jones. _Right?_ Oxley also should have discovered the truth if he had bothered to do the math correctly and realized that young Henry had been born roughly nine months after his father had left Marion at the altar.

However, maybe, just maybe, he just didn't want to know that young Henry Williams was the son of Henry Jones, Jr. Well, in all honesty, there weren't any maybes about it — Oxley didn't want to know. Despite his anger toward the elder Henry, Oxley knew he couldn't quite accept that his former..._friend?_... would completely abandon his family — not after his own problems with his father. It was the reason why Oxley ignored the fact that young Henry seemed to bear a slight resemblance to his father, and disregarded the fact that the boy took on a horrid nickname —_why couldn't people keep their given names?_ — the name of his dog, 'Mutt'. The old adage, 'like father, like son' had never seemed more fitting.

Oxley hadn't even known Marion was pregnant at the time. Three months after Henry had left Marion, Oxley had been propositioned by the museum to go on a six month long expedition in the East Indies. Marion had pushed him to go. "You worry about me too much, go. I know you want to," was what she had told him. He had protested, at first. Marion was still in a fragile state, no matter how much she denied it and she had begun to grow ill quite often — in hindsight, he knew it was a sign of her pregnancy, but how was he to know? Eventually, however, he gave in. Colin Williams, a friend of theirs had offered to keep an eye on her, and Oxley trusted the man. But as luck — or bad luck — would have it, Oxley had the misfortune to contract scarlet fever three days before leaving the Indies and his return was delayed another two months. When he arrived back in the States, he was surprised to find that Marion had moved to London, married Colin Williams, and had a son, young Henry.

Oxley had been hurt, initially. Marion, who he considered family, had off and married and he didn't even know. But Colin had explained to him that since she was with child, they had to marry quickly, for her and the child's honor more than anything. And to think Oxley believed him. He pondered which was the larger emotional blow: Marion not telling him of her pregnancy and eloping with Colin Williams or him being the last one to know of young Henry's true parentage. He knew it was the latter rather than the former.

How Henry, the older Henry, had come upon the truth that he had fathered a son was still somewhat of a mystery. Obviously, Marion told Henry about their child, because young Henry had been raised think Colin was his father, and Oxley highly doubted that Henry had figured it out on his own, because frankly, Henry was quite dim at times, especially concerning these matters. All that Oxley was sure of was the fact that once he regained his sanity and discovered the true meaning behind the Crystal Skulls, young Henry had called old Henry —_ why must every man in the Jones line carry the name Henry?_ — his father.

Oxley wondered how the elder Jones had done over the past twenty —_that long?_ — years. They hadn't spoken to one another, not since the night at the bar. Occasionally, Oxley would read in the newspapers and archaeological magazines about the exploits of said Henry Jones, Jr., and he had even made young Henry read his book, but he didn't know how much the man had changed, how much he regretted his past decisions. The only sign of regret Oxley had witnessed was a letter written to Marion, sent a year after he left her. It told of his reunion with his father, the journey to find the Holy Grail, and was signed with _'Missing You, Indy'_.

That was years ago, nearly two decades to be exact. Nineteen years ago Oxley had been left with the broken pieces of the relationship that two of his friends had shared. Oxley thought that everything Henry and Marion had shared had been washed away, shattered like a piece of broken glass. Now, nineteen years after their lives went to hell, he was faced with once again seeing Henry Jones, Jr. and Marion in his arms, now with their son by their side.

Oh, how things seem to change. In such a short span of time he had lost all sanity and semblance of time. He had discovered the truth of the Crystal Skulls, and watched as they were pulled away in oblivion. And just as fast as his discovery and his loss, things seemed to fall into order with the Joneses. It was so strange, but after what he had seen, how was he to judge?

Oxley hoped deep within his heart that Henry had truly changed, but how was he to know? He and Marion had both been fooled twice…however, wasn't there also a saying that the third time was a charm? Maybe in those nineteen years, Henry had actually grown up. Maybe—oh, who was he kidding? Henry couldn't be believed and Oxley was a fool to think otherwise. He couldn't allow himself to fall into Henry's traps again, and he certainly wouldn't doom Marion to another terrible fate like she had so long ago; especially when she had her son to think of. Yes, Henry was young Henry's father, but he couldn't allow either of them to be hurt. No matter how much the two of them wanted to trust in Jones.

It was then when Oxley decided he must do what he had neglected to do in the years past: interfere in Henry and Marion's love-life. He couldn't let her be hurt anymore, couldn't bear to see her go through that pain again. So, when the fire light dimmed, and Marion and young Henry had drifted off top sleep, Oxley prepared to speak his mind to the elder Jones. He hadn't expected that Henry would speak to him first.

"I…I really screwed up last time, didn't I." Henry's words weren't a question, but a mere statement of a fact. _Of course you bungled everything up_, Oxley wanted to yell, _you did more than that_! However, Henry didn't give him a chance to speak, but continued. "I got scared, Ox. I ran away. I should have stayed. Talked to her. Would've saved a lot of time, huh? I could have…and Mutt…I would have been able to…God, I was an idiot."

The raw emotion on Henry's face was reason for Oxley to pause on his tirade. Henry looked hurt, and for a brief moment, Oxley could have sworn he saw Henry's eyes brim with tears. However, he shook the thought away. If there was one thing he knew about Henry Jones, Jr. — did he actually really know anything? — was that the man never did cry.

"I'm going to fix it, Ox. I'm not going to run away anymore. I'm going to ask her to marry me, and stay this time. Should have stayed the first time…"

Oxley's mind was screaming for him to give the telling off to Henry like he had planned. His mind was telling him not to trust Henry, that'd he'd too many second chances. But wasn't following the head what got Henry into his mess? If he had stayed, and not listened to his fears, would the situation have been different. Oxley was confused, more confused than he had been in a long time. Suddenly, he wished for the knowledge the Crystal Skulls had given him to return, so he could have clarity on the whole situation. But, that was gone, and he was faced with something new entirely. What would he do? What could he say? What would be best for Marion and young Henry? Oxley wasn't an Oracle, and only time would tell what would occur between Henry and Marion. He made the mistake of looking in Henry's eyes, and seeing the raw honesty, there. And as he looked into his old friend's eyes, his mouth began to form the words of finality:

"_You have my blessing, Henry."_

**-Fin-**

**Thank you all for reading this fic and sticking it through with me! **


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